The Southeastern District's all time winningest program, the Portsmouth Trojans, return 3 starters from last season's 17-8 district semifinal team. 6-1 SR Reese Johnson, 6-2 SR Daniel Jordan, and 5-8 SR DJ Eley all come back to give the Trojans plenty of experience at key positions. In addition, PHS has added a transfer, 6-3 SR Isaac Kelly (QB in football). Kelly will compete with MyQuel McKinley, a 6-3 JR, for the 5 spot. 6-1 SOPH Matthew Fraulini looks to fill the scoring void left by the graduation of Portsmouth's 4th leading scorer in school history, Kendal Reynolds. Fraulini has a complete package of skills, and has a very athletic style to his game. Also battling for minutes will be 6-5 SR Gabe Gambill, 5-10 JR Daniel Lattimore, 6-0 JR Anthony Ferrara, 5-10 SR Deonta Parker, 6-5 JR Collin Boehm, 5-10 JR Aubrey Holley, and 6-2 JR Andrew Meadows.

Overall, the Trojans should have more size, muscle, and athleticism than last year's squad. Scoring ability should be adequate, especially with Fraulini's talents. Portsmouth has an excellent chance to at least match last year's win total, and also has the talent to advance to the regionals come March. In OVC play, Fairland is the obvious favorite, with its top 6 players back, but look for the Trojans to be very competitive and in the top 3 of what appears to be a very good league in 2017-2018. The OVC could put 3-4 teams in regional play, with Fairland and Gallia Academy in D2, Portsmouth, Ironton, and South Point in D3, and Coal Grove in D4. CG has all 5 starters back.

Eugene Collins begins his 9th year at PHS, with an overall record of 139-56, leading the Trojans to 2 Final 4's (2011 and 2012), a regional runnerup (2015), a district runnerup (2014), and 5 sectional titles. In this current decade from 2010--present, Portsmouth has the best tournament resume of any school in the SE district. It has the most recent win by a SE school in the Final 4, that being a 74-66 win over Ottawa-Glandorf in the 2012 state semifinals.

Portsmouth is not a program of the past, but cherishes the championships, banners, trophies, great players, and great teams from years gone by.

Here is a summary of significant accomplishments of Portsmouth Trojans basketball:

8th in all time wins in Ohio (1,434--760) includes the 2017 season
3rd in state appearances (15)
Tied for 6th in state championships (4)
Tied for 5th in state championship game appearances (8)
3rd most state tournament games played (27)
All time state tournament record (16-11)
Tied for 3rd most state tournament wins (16)
Final 4 record (12-7)
Tied for 5th for most Final 4 wins (12)
2nd in number of decades making the state tournament (8)
8-1 in last 9 state semifinal games (8-3 record overall)
7-2 in last 9 regional final games (11-6 record overall)
17 times have advanced to at least the regional final
1st in SE district championships (37)
1st in SE sectional championships (64)
19 times have won at least 20 games in a season
44 times have won at least 15 games in a season
33 times have won at least 17 games in a season
79 winning seasons since 1913
14 league championships (various leagues, SEOAL, OKAC, OVC, GOL)

The Trojans opened the 2017-2018 season with a 97-66 win at Toledo Jones Academy. PHS and Jones played even for most of the first half, but the Trojans surged ahead to a double digit lead after 2 quarters. The second half was pretty much controlled by Portsmouth, but Jones did make a total of twelve 3's. 6-1 senior Reese Johnson tallied in 31 points to lead PHS, and he was supported by 6-1 sophomore Matthew Fraulini with 18, 5-8 senior DJ Eley with 17, and 6-2 senior Daniel Jordan with 14.

Portsmouth will next play on Thursday vs. Huntington (WVA) St.Joe in the Buckeye Elite Classic which will be played at Portsmouth HS.

TrojanDave....I remember reading all the Portsmouth posts back in the "Huddle" days. I'm sure anyone who was around remembers PrinceTrojan. What happened to him? Don't recall ever seeing him posting here. Always wanted to make a trip down to the river to see if the 'Tooner was real

tcgobucks: I never knew who Prince Trojan was, but his posts were memorable to say the least. I don't know what has happened with him the last couple of years, he may be going by a different name by now somewhere.

The Trojans upped their record to 3-0 with a pair of comfortable wins over the weekend. Portsmouth beat Huntington St.Joe 79-48 in the Buckeye Elite Classic held at PHS. Sophomore Matthew Fraulini led PHS with 20 points. On Saturday, the Trojans got off to a slow start against rival Portsmouth West, then the offense got clicking and the game ended up an 80-56 win over the Senators. Daniel Jordan led Portsmouth with 17 points. In the first 3 games this season, the Trojans have had 3 different players lead the team in scoring. PHS is averaging 85 PPG.

Portsmouth starts OVC play on Tuesday as the Coal Grove Hornets come to Portsmouth. On Friday, the Trojans will battle another OVC foe as they travel to South Point.

Portsmouth lost on a buzzer beater to the Coal Grove Hornets 57-55 last night at PHS. The Trojans led after 1 quarter, at halftime 30-23, and after 3 quarters 45-41. Turnovers, though, kept PHS from extending their largest lead of 10 points. Portsmouth committed 20 turnovers and allowed 15 offensive rebounds to the Hornets, yet it still took a 10 foot shot by Aaron Music at the buzzer to beat PHS. The Trojans overall outrebounded Coal Grove 38-30, and outshot them 43% to 39%, but the Hornets really hurt PHS on the offensive boards which resulted in a number of putbacks.

DJ Eley led Portsmouth with 15 points, Gabe Gambill pitched in 11, and Matthew Fraulini added 10. PHS is now 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the OVC, and play Friday at South Point in another OVC contest.